Great Value Dinner At The Brand New O’Neill’s Watford | Pub Restaurant Review

*We were given provided with a complimentary meal in exchange
for an honest review, so all thoughts and opinions are my own

Anyone who knows Watford will remember The Flag pub which was right next to Watford Junction station, I remember plenty of drunken evenings during my late teens and early- mid twenties drinking there. It was a great pub but in later years definitely needed a face lift as it was pretty grotty, although for many this is why they liked it. The Flag officially shut it’s doors on New Years Day to welcome something new O’Neills which opened a short while later.

From the outside other than some signage changes it looks no different but inside it’s a whole other story. The general layout is generally the same but there’s more seating areas, a lot of extra screens which is great if you’re there to watch the football, and the decoration is far cleaner and nicer. We went on a Wednesday evening which I didn’t expect to be all that busy but when we arrived we realised there were 2 pretty big football matches on so we were lucky to find a table.

O’Neills pub in Watford

O’Neills are known for their live music and The Flag was the same but the venue out the back looks a million miles away from what I remember back in the day. It seems much bigger with a centre stage and plenty of space around for music lovers. O’Neills run live music most Friday’s and Saturday’s but anything pre-booked before the change over they are still honouring.

Other than seeing the makeover of the place we were there to grab some food and let me tell you there was plenty of choice. We started with some drinks and as I was driving I stuck to soft drinks but Luke picked a gin from their collection and it was time to choose food. There are all the more typical pub deals with burger and drink deals from £7.75 and pizza and a drink deals from £8.50 which is so good as the pizzas are pretty big from what we could see salivating over our neighbours tables.

Food review at O’Neills Watford

We were pretty hungry so we decided to start with the Ultimate Sharing Platter at just £9.95 which came with Nachos, BBQ chicken wings, fried buttermilk chicken, beer-battered mushrooms, onion rings, garlic pizza bread and plenty of dips. Usually when you get a sharing starter you get a few of each bits but it’s not too much bigger than getting 2 individual starters but my god was this big. We had an entire plate of nachos, a entire pizza garlic bread and four pots stuffed with the other goodies. Now me and Luke do eat a lot and even we couldn’t finish this, in actual fact I’d say it would be about right for about 4 people to get a good starter. At just £9.95 it was incredible value and everything tasted so good, especially the soft garlic bread which had the right amount of tang, and the buttermilk chicken which was crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside.

We both ordered burgers for our main but had we known the size of our starters we wouldn’t have doubled up. I went for the Double Beef ‘n’ Cheese which was a patty, beef brisket, onion rings and cheese, and Luke went for a double traditional beef burger, both alongside their triple cooked chips. My burger was mahoosive and even without the salad and onion rings I struggled to eat it with my hands, although part of the fun is in the trying. Luke found his a tiny bit tougher than he’d have liked (probably because he’s a wierdo and has his without cheese), but with all the parts of my burger I found it tender and so good.

We were stuffed though so neither of us managed to finish our burgers, and the chips barely got a look in but we know for next time to bring extra people if we want the sharing starter. I’m a huge fan of pub food and O’Neills stepped up to the mark and smashed it away so we’ll defintiely be heading back again.

Check out more of my reviews of restaurants in Watford here.

Are you a fan of pub food? Have you ben to an O’Neills?

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